November 16, 2018 10:00am ESTNovember 16, 2018 10:00am ESTGoal lists the most prolific players of the current calendar year, taking into account goals scored in all competitions for both club and country(Getty/Goal composite)

Mark Doyle

Published on Nov. 16, 2018

Nov. 16, 2018

The 2018 Goal 50 was announced on Tuesday and, as always, our list of the best players in the world over the previous 12 months has provoked plenty of debate and controversy.

Lionel Messi's fifth-placed finish – his lowest ranking in the award's 11-year history – made most headlines, given the Argentine inspired Barcelona to a domestic double last season and picked up the European Golden Shoe in the process.

His detractors, though, pointed to the fact that the No.10 was unable to prevent Barcelona from once again bowing out at the quarter-final stage of the Champions League, or help Argentina get past the last 16 of the World Cup.

Still, when it comes to goalscoring, nobody can dispute the fact that Messi has been the most prolific player in the world in 2018, with the 31-year-old having hit 44 goals in all competitions for club and country this year.

His great rival, Cristiano Ronaldo, has scored one fewer, though CR7 fans will be quick to point out that the Portuguese superstar has the slightly superior strike rate, as he is averaging just under a goal a game (0.98).

Surprisingly, little-known Brazilian Diogo, who plies his trade in Thailand, has netted as many times as Ronaldo.

However, the Buriram United striker's 43 goals came in more matches, which is why he sits just below the Portugal skipper.

No.

Player

Total Games

Total Goals

1

Lionel Messi

47

44

2

Cristiano Ronaldo

44

43

3

Diogo

51

43

4

Robert Lewandowski

48

39

5

Baghdad Bounedjah

27

38

6

Dave Turpel

44

37

7

Luis Suarez

55

36

8

Mohamed Salah

45

35

9

Antoine Griezmann

62

35

10

Jhon Cifuente

37

34

11

Harry Kane

51

34

12

Josef Martinez

37

33

13

Lei Wu

49

33

14

Patrick Hoban

43

32

15

Roman Debelko

48

32

16

Liliu

31

31

17

Zakaria Beglarishvili

39

31

18

Kylian Mbappe

52

31

19

Joe Gormley

35

31

20

Neymar

37

30

Bayern Munich forward Robert Lewandowski finished as the Bundesliga's top goalscorer last season, so it will come as no surprise to see the prolific Pole in fourth, with 39 goals from 48 appearances.

Algeria's Baghdad Bounedjah claims fifth after a fine year with Al Sadd in Qatar's Stars League, while Luxembourg international Dave Turpel played a pivotal role in Dudelange qualifying for the group stage of the Europa League.

Luis Suarez remains as lethal as ever, as he proved during Messi's recent injury lay-off, and the Uruguayan ranks seventh, with 36 goals, just one ahead of Liverpool and Egypt sensation Mohamed Salah and Atletico Madrid's World Cup winner Antoine Griezmann.

Meanwhile, Ecuador's Jhon Cifuente pips Russia 2018 Golden Boot winner Harry Kane to a place in the top 10.